Like many, I don’t fancy sending my kids off to a classroom stuffed with 50 other kids. Not only does this sardine-can approach exponentially grow the possibility that my child will return home with the flu and gift it to everyone in the house, it also increases the likelihood that their ability to focus and learn will be impacted. …
Leg With Louie: Why the Rush, Pebble?
The federal environmental review of Pebble mine is an obvious rush job and Pebble is throwing millions and millions of lobbying dollars on the dumpster fire of politics in order to ensure the mine receives its critical federal permits before the 2020 presidential election. Alaska departments charged with reviewing the Pebble Mine Environmental Impact Statement have already been cut to …
Leg with Louie: The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades
Our U.S. Senators were before the Alaska legislature this week to deliver their annual addresses and reassure Alaska that they are battling in the national fracas so our state is not steamrolled or otherwise transformed by the demands and philosophies of our lower 48 brethren. These annual addresses before the state legislature are by design parochial and inspiring, and …
Leg with Louie: MAGA! 45!
When you hear me shout “MAGA, 45!” know that I don’t intend to conjure the hot passions of a Trump rally. Instead, I employ this acronym and number for its it’s more practical use – to politely remind readers that 45 of our legislators together have the power to “Make Alaska’s Government Adequate.” A three quarter vote is needed under …
Leg With Louie: Negotiating with a Tourist
Each day of this AK Legislative session is a slow-moving catastrophe at which one cannot stop rubbernecking. The Dunleavy Administration is paying a tourist from Michigan with deep Republican ties one of the highest salaries in state government ($195,000) to do the dirty work that apparently no-one who actually lives in Alaska is qualified for, or wants to do …
Leg with Louie: It was a dark and stormy Juneau….
The sun came out in Juneau today, ominous and strange after days of rain. By noon the temperature was plunging toward a projected single-digit nadir and the wind was pushing snow off the peak of Mt. Juneau. Flags – Alaskan, American – went haywire in the wind. In contrast to the outdoors, the hallways of the state capitol were warm …
Leg with Louie: Live in Juneau!
Hello Friends! Juneau is the very best location for the Alaska State Capitol. It rains here all day and all night and all day and all night – completely taking away the guilt one might feel about spending an entire day inside of a building, instead of say, outside of a building – walking, running, skiing, bungee jumping, or merely …
House Majority Fantasy Football
Dear Friends, It is the start of the 2019 Legislative session – and no House Majority has formed. The state-level legislative impasse combined with the federal impasse begs the question: where have all the great Politicians gone? The Negotiators, the Wheelers and Dealers, the Knee-Cappers! Has our collective disdain of Politics led us to the point where we have no …
How Rural Areas Can Benefit From Renewable Energy
Guest opinion blog piece by Ryan TollefsenRenewable energy sources like solar and wind energy have experienced some incredible advances in the past several years. The aforementioned has resulted in both lower overall costs for solar and wind power as well as more efficient use of the power provided by these green technologies. An increasing amount of people can benefit from …
A rattled but inspiring 20 year reunion for AYEA
Dear AYEA family, On Friday morning we were on the 4th floor at KNBA’s recording studio, live on the radio sharing our excitement for that evening’s event, our Grassroots Gala: AYEA’s 20th Anniversary Celebration. Lisa, our Dutch Harbor Youth Organizer, and Kengo, a Fairbanks alum, were sharing their excitement for the reunion when the ground beneath us started to buck. We …